Rant: Mangling city names

[Swatcat27]

and then there are the Brits who change everything they have a trouble with.

Mumbai = Bombay
Kolkatta = Calcutta
Chennai = Madras.

All of these were the local versions which they had to change.

[Radbird]

Beijing as 北京

Fancy alphabet boy.

[maddash]

A lot of the English versions of Asian names are actually exonyms from China (such as Japan). So they were changed even before the Europeans got to them. Many are Portuguese translations of the Chinese exonym that then got even more changed when going to Old English, and then modern English. And a lot of the European names (like Germany) are Latin exonyms from the Roman translations of names they heard from tribes - Germania is apparently derived from a Gallic term.

[maddash]

Beijing as 北京

Fancy alphabet boy.

These are apparently Mandarin emoticons



I'm guessing dh-(2) would be the proper response.

[ghostrunner]

Yeah, I think Germania might precede Deutschland. I think Germany has the most variations in pronouncements too, or it's right up there. It's Allemagne in French.

Here's a listing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_Germany

[AdmiralKird]

München = Munich. Doesn't make much sense.

Makes a lot more sense than:

Köln = Cologne

Cologne? Seriously.

[maddash]

München = Munich. Doesn't make much sense.

Makes a lot more sense than:

Köln = Cologne

Cologne? Seriously.

In 50 AD, Agrippina the Younger, wife of the Emperor Claudius, who was born in Cologne, asked for her home village to be elevated to the status of a colonia — a city under Roman law. It was called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis (a "colony of Claudius and the altar of Agrippina"), or Colonia Agrippina, "the Colony of Agrippina".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cologne

[Popeye_Card]

München = Munich. Doesn't make much sense.

Makes a lot more sense than:

Köln = Cologne

Cologne? Seriously.

Well Köln at least sounds like Cologne. München doesn't sound anything Munich, and it translates to something about monks. Can't we call it Monkberg or something if we're going to translate it?

[redbirdjazzz]

A lot of the English versions of Asian names are actually exonyms from China (such as Japan). So they were changed even before the Europeans got to them. Many are Portuguese translations of the Chinese exonym that then got even more changed when going to Old English, and then modern English. And a lot of the European names (like Germany) are Latin exonyms from the Roman translations of names they heard from tribes - Germania is apparently derived from a Gallic term.

What do you mean by Old English? Old English was essentially extinct as a spoken language except in remote regions of Britain by the late 12th century (Middle English, the fusion of Old French and Old English was emerging from about 50 years after the Norman Conquest in 1066). I could be wrong, but I don't think Portugal had had significant contact with China by that point.

[jim]

Maybe a little bit of a different subject here, but I hate listening to the national media people trying to pronounce "Louisville" (in Kentucky) the way the locals do. (I lived across the river from Louisville, and then in 2 different palces in Kentucky from Kindergarten through the 11th grade, so it always got on my nerves.) They all used to say, "Louie-ville" then some time back they started trying to pronounce it the way the locals do. I've heard some say something like, "Lou-ville" or something similar. First, you have to understand that in the South, the "-ville" part of a town name is almost always pronounced "vuhl," not "vill." Next, you have to pronounce the "Louis-" part of the name almost as one syllable, but not quite two: something like "Lu-a," but sort of run the u and a sounds together: "Luavuhl" it's simple.

Someone from Owensboro told me once the first syllable rhymes with "Bull". So "Lull-vuhl".